Habitat monitoring in Europe is regulated by Article 17 of the Habitats Directive, which suggests the use of typical species to habitat conservation status. Yet, the Directive uses the term “typical” species but does not provide a definition, either for its use in reporting or for its use in impact assessments. To address the issue, an online workshop was organized by the Italian Society for Vegetation Science (SISV) to shed light on the diversity of perspectives regarding the different concepts of typical species, and to discuss the possible implications for habitat monitoring. To this aim, we inquired 73 people with a very different degree of expertise in the field of vegetation science by means of a tailored survey composed of six questions. We analysed the data using Pearson's Chi-squared test to verify that the answers diverged from a random distribution and checked the effect of the degree of experience of the surveyees on the results. We found that most of the surveyees agreed on the use of the phytosociological method for habitat monitoring and of the diagnostic and characteristic species to evaluate the structural and functional conservation status of habitats. With this contribution, we shed light on the meaning of “typical” species in the context of habitat monitoring.

Beach litter threatens coastal dunes integrity across the world. European countries are committed to improving the environmental status of the marine and coastal environment by 2020, and to do this, they need to reduce the gap of knowledge about litter accumulation patterns in coastal environments. We analyzed the distribution pattern of waste, differentiated by material and origin, in the coastal dune vegetation mosaic along protected natural areas in the Adriatic seashore (central Italy). Litter data were collected following a random stratified procedure. We registered litter occurrence on 180 (2 × 2 m) sampling plots randomly distributed in the different habitats of European conservation concern mapped for the analyzed protected areas. Litter was classified by origin and material, and their abundance on different habitats was explored by multivariate ordination techniques and tested by nonparametric ANOVA followed by Mann-Whitney pairwise post-hoc tests. Most of the plots included at least one waste element being plastic. Plastic was the most abundant material, and fishing and touristic the most polluting activities. Waste distribution varies across coastal dune vegetation types and involves the back dune zone too. Our results stress the need for (a) specific cleaning tasks able to preserve the ecological value of coastal dune habitats and (b) actions aimed at preventing litter production and accumulation.

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Beach litter accumulation patterns are influenced by biotic and abiotic factors, as well as by the distribution of anthropogenic sources. Although the importance of comprehensive approaches to deal with anthropogenic litter pollution is acknowledged, integrated studies including geomorphologic, biotic, and anthropic factors in relation to beach debris accumulation are still needed. In this perspective, Species Distribution Models (SDMs) might represent an appropriate tool to predict litter accumulation probability in relation to environmental conditions. In this context, we explored the applicability of a SDM–type modelling approach (a Litter Distribution Model; LDM) to map litter accumulation in coastal sand dunes. Starting from 180 litter sampling plots combined with fine–resolution variables, we calibrated LDMs from litter items classified either by their material type or origin. We also mapped litter accumulation hotspots. LDMs achieved fair-to-good predictive performance, with LDMs for litter classified by material type performing significantly better than models for litter classified by origin. Accumulation hotspots were mostly localized along the beach, by beach accesses, and at river mouths. In light of the promising results achieved by LDMs in this study, we conclude that this tool can be successfully applied within a coastal litter management context.

New Italian data on the distribution of the Annex I Habitats 1510*, 2130*, 2250*, 3180*, 3260, 5230*, 6410, 7140, 7220*, 9320 are reported in this contribution. Specifically, 14 new occurrences in Natura 2000 sites are presented and 20 new cells are added in the EEA 10 km × 10 km reference grid. The new data refer to the Italian administrative regions of Abruzzo, Apulia, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Liguria, Marche, Molise, Sardinia, Sicily, Tuscany and Umbria.